at the center of all of this, the egyptian president, mohamed morsi. we'll take you live to cairo in a matter of minutes. first, the fiscal cliff. the fiscal cliff sound bites, they are flying even if the actual negotiations are at a stand still. president obama says republicans, they're the ones that need to take the next step here. republicans say no way, ball's in your court, mr. president. >> we can probably solve this in about a week. it is not that tough. >> now we need a response from the white house. we can't sit here and negotiate with ourselves. now, the revenues we're put on the table are going to come from, guess who, the rich. >> if we can get the leadership on the republican side to take that framework, take knowledge of that reality, then the numbers actually aren't that far apart. >> where are the specifics, where are the discussions? nothing is going on. >> passing middle income tax cut means the end of holding them hostage from tax cuts for the middle -- for the rich. >> i think the next 72 hours are critical. if he sits back and cont